Dynamically enabling and disabling extremely high throughput (eht) for multi-link

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to extremely high throughput (EHT) capabilities. A device may detect a first station device (STA), wherein the first STA operates as a legacy device. The device may detect a second STA, wherein the second STA operates as an EHT device. The device may exchange first capabilities with the first STA, wherein the first capabilities include support for legacy features. The device may exchange second capabilities with the second STA, wherein the second capabilities include multi-link operation (MLO) support. The device may dynamically de-correlate EHT capabilities from the second STA. The device may establish a communication channel with the second STA based on an energy detection (ED) threshold that is determined based on the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for wirelesscommunications and, more particularly, to dynamically enabling/disablingextremely high throughput (EHT) for multi-link devices.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasinglyrequesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards thatutilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channelallocation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environmentfor extremely high throughput (EHT) capabilities, in accordance with oneor more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for EHT capabilitiessystem, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a process for an illustrative EHTcapabilities system, in accordance with one or more example embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a functional diagram of an exemplary communicationstation that may be suitable for use as a user device, in accordancewith one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which anyof one or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, inaccordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance withsome examples.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for use in theradio architecture of FIG. 6, in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in the radioarchitecture of FIG. 6, in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry for use inthe radio architecture of FIG. 6, in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, algorithm, and other changes. Portions and features of someembodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of otherembodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all availableequivalents of those claims.

European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Broadband RadioAccess Networks (BRAN) has recently adopted 2 documents that regulateunlicensed operation at 5 and 6 GHz. It is the result of a compromisebetween companies that are more Wi-Fi-centric, which were looking topreserve the energy detection (ED) levels that have been usedsuccessfully over the last 20 years, and companies that are morecellular-centric, which were looking for the same ED levels for alldevices, regardless of other technology-specific protection. Thisincludes the Packet detection used in Wi-Fi where the preamble is usedto detect if a signal is a Wi-Fi signal.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems,methods, and devices for dynamically enabling/disabling EHT formulti-link devices (MLDs).

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may facilitate tofully decorrelate multi-link operation of an EHT device from EHToperation, which is a mode of operation for a particular STA. Multi-linkoperation is a functionality of a multi-link device that has multipleSTAs, each operating on a different frequency band and link. An EHTdevice may be any device that operates in accordance with IEEE 802.11be(“11be) standard or any next generation standard.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may facilitateenabling an EHT AP to dynamically enable and disable EHT operation onits BSS, by advertising this change to its associated STAs in abroadcast and/or unicast manner.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may facilitate todynamically change the ED threshold that the AP and associated STAs willuse if EHT is enabled or disabled, so that it is compliant with the EDthreshold defined for EHT if EHT support is enabled, and compliant withthe ED threshold defined for legacy/IEEE 802.11ax (“11ax”) if EHTsupport is disabled. Devices that operate in accordance with the flaxstandard may be referred to as high efficiency (HE) devices.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may facilitatethat as a multi-link operation is decorrelated from the different STAssupport for EHT operation, within a Multi-link device operating on 2.4,5, and 6 GHz for instance, the STA/AP operating at 5 GHz canenable/disable EHT operation, while not changing anything to Multi-linkoperation of the MLD to which the STA/AP is affiliated with.

In one or more embodiments, an AP could also enforce a maximum transmitpower for its associated STAs, so that all these STAs would operate inthe region where the ED threshold is equal to −62 dBm or as close aspossible from −62 dBm. This threshold is currently 13 dBm. That makesthis possibly applicable in very dense environments.

The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are notmeant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations,processes, algorithms, etc., may exist, some of which are described ingreater detail below. Example embodiments will now be described withreference to the accompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environmentof EHT capabilities, according to some example embodiments of thepresent disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more userdevices 120 and one or more access points(s) (AP) 102, which maycommunicate in accordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards. Theuser device(s) 120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g.,not having fixed locations) or may be stationary devices.

In some embodiments, the user devices 120 and the AP 102 may include oneor more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagram ofFIG. 4 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 5.

One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may beoperable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that anyaddressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multipledistinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example,a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, aquality-of-service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The oneor more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs.The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 mayoperate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/accesspoint (PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/orAP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including,but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a staticdevice. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may include, auser equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a softwareenabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wirelessdevice (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer,a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebookcomputer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, ahandheld device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, aPDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-boarddevice, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalitieswith PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device,a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non-mobile ornon-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device,a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, amobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively smallcomputing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large”(CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC),a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device,a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), acontext-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, aset-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digitalvideo disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVDrecorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), abroadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, anaudio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat paneldisplay, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), adigital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier,a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera(DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, orthe like. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climatecontrol, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may alsobe included in this list.

As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (IoT) device” is used torefer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has anaddressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, aBluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.)and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wiredor wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communicationinterface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an activecommunication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, atransmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particularset of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether theIoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available fortask execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, anenvironmental monitoring or recording function, a light-emittingfunction, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded inand/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU),microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to anIoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example,IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators,toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools,clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners,thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers,electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices areequipped with an addressable communications interface for communicatingwith the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised ofa combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop ordesktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do nottypically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

The user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include mesh stationsin, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with one or more IEEE802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one ormore communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. Theuser device(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly witheach other with or without the AP(s) 102. Any of the communicationsnetworks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of acombination of different types of suitable communications networks suchas, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks(e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellularnetworks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further,any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitablecommunication range associated therewith and may include, for example,global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs),wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal areanetworks (PANs). In addition, any of the communications networks 130and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic maybe carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pairwire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwaveterrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, whitespace communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums,satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) andAP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one ormore communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennascorresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s) 102. Somenon-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fiantennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas,non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patchantennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas,omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, or the like.The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupledto a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such ascommunications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP(s)102.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/ordirectional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in awireless network. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124,126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directionaltransmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays(e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antennaarrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particularrespective direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configuredto perform any given directional transmission towards one or moredefined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., userdevices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform anygiven directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RFbeamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, inperforming a given MIMO transmission, user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or morecommunications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver fortransmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in thebandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocolsutilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and AP(s) 102 to communicatewith each other. The radio components may include hardware and/orsoftware to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals accordingto pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components mayfurther have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate viaone or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11standards. In certain example embodiments, the radio component, incooperation with the communications antennas, may be configured tocommunicate via 2.4 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ax), 5 GHz channels (e.g. 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11be,etc.), 6 GHz channels (e.g., 802.11ax, 802.11be, etc.), or 60 GHZchannels (e.g. 802.11ad, 802.11ay). 800 MHz channels (e.g. 802.11ah).The communications antennas may operate at 28 GHz and 40 GHz. It shouldbe understood that this list of communication channels in accordancewith certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list and that other802.11 standards may be used (e.g., Next Generation Wi-Fi, or otherstandards). In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used forcommunications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-rangecommunication (DSRC), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g. IEEE 802.11af,IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or otherpacketized radio communications. The radio component may include anyknown receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via thecommunications protocols. The radio component may further include a lownoise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, ananalog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digitalbaseband.

In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, AP 102 may facilitateEHT capabilities 142 with one or more user devices 120.

ETSI BRAN has recently adopted 2 documents that regulate unlicensedoperations at 5 and 6 GHz. It is the result of a compromise betweencompanies that are more Wi-Fi-centric, which were looking to preservethe energy detection (ED) levels that have been used successfully overthe last 20 years, and companies that are more cellular-centric, whichwere looking for the same ED levels for all devices, regardless of othertechnology-specific protection. This includes the packet detection usedin Wi-Fi where the preamble is used to detect if a signal is a Wi-Fisignal.

The compromise results with the following rules for 6 GHz: the EDthreshold (EDT) is proportional to the equipment's maximum configuredtransmit power (P_(max)):

For P_(max)≤14 dBm: EDT=−75 dBm/MHz.

For 14 dBm<P_(max)≤24 dBm: EDT=−85 dBm/MHz+(24 dBm−P_(max)) (1).

For P_(max)≥24 dBm: EDT=−85 dBm/MHz.

The compromise results with the following rules for 5 GHz:

Category 1: for a device operating only in conformance to IEEE 802.11ax,independent of the device's maximum transmit power (P_(H)), the EDTshall be:

EDT=−75 dBm/MHz   (2).

Category 2: Else, the EDT shall be proportional to the device's maximumtransmit power (PH):

For P_(H)≤13 dBm: EDT=−75 dBm/MHz.

For 13 dBm<P_(H)<23 dBm: EDT=−85 dBm/MHz+(23 dBm−P_(H)) (3).

For P_(H)≥23 dBm: EDT=−85 dBm/MHz.

A device capable of operating in either category, when changingoperation from category 2 to category 1, shall not increase the EDT fora period of at least 60 seconds.

At 6 GHz, all devices will have to comply with the ED threshold thatvaries between −62 dBm per 20 MHz and −72 dBm per 20 MHz depending onthe device Max TxPower for 20 MHz.

At 5 GHz, devices that support 802.11 PHY operation including allreleases up to the recently deployed 802.11ax are allowed to have an EDthreshold of −62 dBm for 20 MHz, while new devices (for instance devicecompliant with 802.11be) need to respect the threshold that variesbetween −72 dBm/20 MHz and −62 dBm/20 MHz depending on the device'sTxPower. It should be understood that −75 dBm/MHz is equal to −62 dBmper 20 MHz and −85 dBm/MHz is equal to −72 dBm per 20 MHz.

There are debates if this will severally impact 802.11be performancecompared to existing 802.11ax (and previous legacy releases) deploymentsat 5 GHz, but very likely, there will be scenarios where this results ina substantial impact and several scenarios where this will havenegligible impact.

It is however interesting to try and find a solution in order tominimize the impact of this change to 802.11be devices.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may facilitate tofully decorrelate multi-link operation, which is a functionality of amulti-link device that has multiple STAs, each operating on a differentband, from EHT operation, which is a mode of operation for a particularSTA. In that sense, the term device used in ETSI BRAN only refers to theSTA that is operating on the band of interest (5 GHz for 5 GHzregulation document, 6 GHz for 6 GHz regulation document), and the termMLD refers to a bigger device that incorporates multiple ETSI-defineddevices.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may enable an EHTAP to dynamically enable and disable EHT operation on its BSS, byadvertising this change to its associated STAs in a broadcast and/orunicast manner.

This can be achieved by simply removing the EHT capabilities and EHToperation elements from the beacon frames and probe response frames thatthe AP transmits. This will trigger a critical update change forassociated STAs (Critical update flag will be set to 1 and the BSSParameters Count will be incremented by one) and associated STAs willhave to update the BSS parameters of the AP. Therefore, the EHTcapabilities and EHT operation elements, will not be transmitted, andtherefore this results in the non-support by the AP of EHT modulationsand procedures. Following this, the associated STAs shall not transmitEHT PPDUs to their associated APs as this AP thus no longer supports EHToperation. Similarly, to re-enable EHT operation, the AP will restartincluding EHT capabilities and EHT operation elements in itsbeacons/probe response frames, triggering another critical update andenabling again EHT operation.

This can also be achieved by defining a new field in the A-controloperating mode (OM), or in a frame, in order to allow the AP to disableor enable EHT operation dynamically.

Optionally, an EHT capabilities system may facilitate defining thecapability for a device to dynamically enable/disable EHT support.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may dynamicallychange the ED threshold that the AP and associated STAs will use if EHTis enabled or disabled, so that it is compliant with the ED thresholddefined for EHT if EHT support is enabled, and compliant with the EDthreshold defined for legacy/11ax if EHT support is disabled.

As the multi-link operation is decorrelated from the different STAssupport for EHT operation, within a multi-link device operating on 2.4,5, and 6 GHz for instance, the STA/AP operating at 5 GHz canenable/disable EHT operation, while not changing anything to multi-linkoperation of the MLD to which the STA/AP is affiliated with.

In addition, there may be a situation where an 11be AP has 11ax (orlegacy standards) associated STAs and 11be associated STAs. If that isthe case, 11ax STAs will get strong advantage over 11be STAs because ofthe ED threshold difference.

For many such devices on the field today, it is difficult to definesomething new. But for new 11ax devices, it is proposed that newsignaling that the AP can include in its Beacon, Probe Response,Association Response frames with a field that determines the EDthreshold to be used by 11ax devices (can be between −62 dBm and −72 dBmper 20 MHz).

All STAs that support that functionality (which may be mandatory for allnew 11ax devices), would set their ED threshold to the value provided bythe AP in the most recently received beacon/probe response/associationresponse frames.

An AP could also enforce a maximum transmit power for its associatedSTAs, so that all these STAs would operate in the region where the EDthreshold is equal to −62 dBm or as close as possible from −62 dBm. Thisthreshold is currently 13 dBm. That makes this possibly applicable invery dense environments.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative schematic diagram for EHT capabilities,in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

If a device wants to be part of a multi-link device (MLD), the devicehas to support 11be (e.g. has to be an EHT device). An EHT device maysupport 11be functionalities such as support for 320 MHz, puncturing,parsing and EHT PPDU, 4K QAM, 6 GHz operations, etc.).

For 11be devices, the ED threshold is −85 dBm/MHz (i.e., −72 dBm/20MHz). However, for 11ax devices, the ED threshold may be −75 dBm/MHz(i.e., −62 dBm/20 MHz). Having a lower ED threshold means that a devicemay detect a transmission at a lower energy level. In that sense, an11be device may detect a transmission more frequently than an 11axdevice. Based on that, the 11be device would refrain from transmissiondue to the detected transmission.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown two APs (AP1 202 and AP2 204) thatmay be communicating with their associated STAs (STA1 222 and STA2 224,respectively). In the example of FIG. 2, AP1 202 may be an AP operatingas an EHT device (i.e., in accordance with the 802.11be standard) whileAP2 may be an AP operating as a legacy device (in accordance with802.11ax standard or other legacy standards).

The STA1 222 may be an STA operating as an EHT device (i.e., inaccordance with the 802.11be standard) while the STA2 224 may be an STAoperating as a legacy device (in accordance with 802.11ax standard orother legacy standards).

If the two APs are proximate to each other (e.g., neighboring devices),they may utilize the same frequency medium (e.g., channel 1) when theycommunicate with their respective STAs.

Typically, devices such as HE devices (in accordance with 802.11axstandard) ignore transmissions from EHT devices. However, EHT devicesmay not ignore transmissions from HE devices due to the differencebetween the EHT ED threshold and the HE ED threshold requirements.Therefore, devices operating as HE devices may benefit from thatlimitation that the EHT devices face due to that difference. Therefore,this results in better performance by the HE devices because the HEdevice may be able to grab the frequency medium (e.g., channel 1) morefrequently than the EHT device.

In the example of FIG. 2, when AP1 202 and AP2 204 may want to utilizechannel 1 to communicate with their respective STAs (e.g., STA1 222 andSTA2 224, respectively). However, as explained above, since AP2 204 isoperating as a legacy device (e.g., in accordance with 802.11ax standardor other legacy standards), it may be able to reserve channel 1 due tothe difference in the ED threshold requirements between the two APs.

In one or more embodiments, an EHT capabilities system may facilitatethat AP1 202 may de-correlate multi-link operation (MLO) from an EHTdevice. This way, AP1 202 could support MLO but forgo supporting EHTdevice functionalities such as support for 320 MHz, puncturing, parsingand EHT PPDU, 4K QAM, 6 GHz operations, etc. the result is that AP1 202may have less performance due to foregoing the EHT devicefunctionalities but it will still be able to perform MLO. With thisfunctionality, AP1 202 may be able to mimic an 11ax (or legacy) devicein order to allow the ability to use the −62 dBm/20 MHz ED thresholdinstead of the −72 dBm/20 MHz ED threshold. AP1 202 continues to be ableto maintain a subset of 11be functionality (i.e., MLO). Prior to the newregulation that impacts 11be devices, the ED threshold was −62 dBm/20MHz no matter what the power level is.

In order to classify a device as an 11be or 11ax device, the device willinclude in its capability an EHT capability element or legacy capabilityelement. In the EHT capability element, the device can set bids toindicate it is capable of the various 11be functionalities/capabilities.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 300 for an EHTcapabilities system, in accordance with one or more example embodimentsof the present disclosure.

At block 302, a device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102of FIG. 1 and/or the EHT capabilities device 519 of FIG. 5) may detect afirst station device (STA), wherein the first STA operates as a legacydevice.

At block 304, the device may detect a second STA, wherein the second STAoperates as an extremely high throughput (EHT) device.

At block 306, the device may exchange first capabilities with the firstSTA, wherein the first capabilities include support for legacy features.

At block 308, the device may exchange second capabilities with thesecond STA, wherein the second capabilities include multi-link operation(MLO) support.

At block 310, the device may de-correlate EHT capabilities from thesecond STA. The device may trigger an update to change the capabilitiesof the second STA. The update includes a flag that is set to 1 toindicate a de-correlation of the EHT capabilities. The flag indicates tothe second STA to update its second capabilities. The second STA may beprohibited from transmitting EHT physical layer protocol data units(PPDUs) to the device due to the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.The device may transmit one or more beacon frames or probe responseframes that do not include EHT capabilities and EHT operation elements.

At block 312, the device may establish a communication channel with thesecond STA based on an energy detection (ED) threshold that isdetermined based on the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities. Thedevice may re-enable EHT operation by including EHT capabilities and EHToperation elements in beacon frames or probe response frames.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 4 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station400, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In one embodiment, FIG. 4 illustrates a functional blockdiagram of a communication station that may be suitable for use as an AP102 (FIG. 1) or a user device 120 (FIG. 1) in accordance with someembodiments. The communication station 400 may also be suitable for useas a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular telephone, asmartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer,a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR)subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or otherpersonal communication system (PCS) device.

The communication station 400 may include communications circuitry 402and a transceiver 410 for transmitting and receiving signals to and fromother communication stations using one or more antennas 401. Thecommunications circuitry 402 may include circuitry that can operate thephysical layer (PHY) communications and/or medium access control (MAC)communications for controlling access to the wireless medium, and/or anyother communications layers for transmitting and receiving signals. Thecommunication station 400 may also include processing circuitry 406 andmemory 408 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In someembodiments, the communications circuitry 402 and the processingcircuitry 406 may be configured to perform operations detailed in theabove figures, diagrams, and flows.

In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 402may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames orpackets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communicationscircuitry 402 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. Thecommunications circuitry 402 may also include circuitry formodulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering,amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 406 ofthe communication station 400 may include one or more processors. Inother embodiments, two or more antennas 401 may be coupled to thecommunications circuitry 402 arranged for sending and receiving signals.The memory 408 may store information for configuring the processingcircuitry 406 to perform operations for configuring and transmittingmessage frames and performing the various operations described herein.The memory 408 may include any type of memory, including non-transitorymemory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, the memory 408 may include a computer-readablestorage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM),magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devicesand other storage devices and media.

In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may be part of aportable wireless communication device, such as a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wirelesscommunication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, asmartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, adigital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., aheart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computerdevice, or another device that may receive and/or transmit informationwirelessly.

In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may include one ormore antennas 401. The antennas 401 may include one or more directionalor omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas,monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas,or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. Insome embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna withmultiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture maybe considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated forspatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that mayresult between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmittingstation.

In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may include one ormore of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multipleantennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, andother mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen includinga touch screen.

Although the communication station 400 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements of the communication station 400 may refer to one ormore processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination ofhardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storagedevice, which may be read and executed by at least one processor toperform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storagedevice may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Forexample, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, opticalstorage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices andmedia. In some embodiments, the communication station 400 may includeone or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored ona computer-readable storage device.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 500 orsystem upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g.,methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments,the machine 500 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected(e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, themachine 500 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a clientmachine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example,the machine 500 may act as a peer machine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (orother distributed) network environments. The machine 500 may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device,a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or anumber of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operationswhen operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardwaremay be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurableexecution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computerreadable medium containing instructions where the instructions configurethe execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation.The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units ora loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units arecommunicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the deviceis operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member ofmore than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unitsmay be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a firstmodule at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set ofinstructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 500 may include a hardware processor502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 504 and a static memory 506, some or all of which may communicatewith each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 508. The machine 500 mayfurther include a power management device 532, a graphics display device510, an alphanumeric input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 514 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thegraphics display device 510, alphanumeric input device 512, and UInavigation device 514 may be a touch screen display. The machine 500 mayadditionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 516, a signalgeneration device 518 (e.g., a speaker), an EHT capabilities device 519,a network interface device/transceiver 520 coupled to antenna(s) 530,and one or more sensors 528, such as a global positioning system (GPS)sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor. The machine 500may include an output controller 534, such as a serial (e.g., universalserial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared(IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicatewith or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a cardreader, etc.)). The operations in accordance with one or more exampleembodiments of the present disclosure may be carried out by a basebandprocessor. The baseband processor may be configured to generatecorresponding baseband signals. The baseband processor may furtherinclude physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC)circuitry, and may further interface with the hardware processor 502 forgeneration and processing of the baseband signals and for controllingoperations of the main memory 504, the storage device 516, and/or theEHT capabilities device 519. The baseband processor may be provided on asingle radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).

The storage device 516 may include a machine readable medium 522 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 524(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 524 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504,within the static memory 506, or within the hardware processor 502during execution thereof by the machine 500. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 502, the main memory 504, thestatic memory 506, or the storage device 516 may constitutemachine-readable media.

The EHT capabilities device 519 may carry out or perform any of theoperations and processes (e.g., process 300) described and shown above.

It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the EHTcapabilities device 519 may be configured to perform and that otherfunctions included throughout this disclosure may also be performed bythe EHT capabilities device 519.

While the machine-readable medium 522 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 524.

Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in softwareand/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form ofinstructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by oneor more processors to enable performance of the operations describedherein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but notlimited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer-readablemedium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storinginformation in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but notlimited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 500 and that cause the machine 500 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associatedwith such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examplesmay include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readablemedium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specificexamples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatilememory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electricallyprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 526 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device/transceiver 520 utilizing any one of a number oftransfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP),transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP),hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communicationsnetworks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephonenetworks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks,wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards,and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, thenetwork interface device/transceiver 520 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 526. In an example,the network interface device/transceiver 520 may include a plurality ofantennas to wireles sly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmissionmedium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capableof storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine 500 and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible media to facilitate communication of such software.

The operations and processes described and shown above may be carriedout or performed in any suitable order as desired in variousimplementations. Additionally, in certain implementations, at least aportion of the operations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore,in certain implementations, less than or more than the operationsdescribed may be performed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B inaccordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in any one ofthe example APs 102 and/or the example STAs 120 of FIG. 1. Radioarchitecture 105A, 105B may include radio front-end module (FEM)circuitry 604 a-b, radio IC circuitry 606 a-b and baseband processingcircuitry 608 a-b. Radio architecture 105A, 105B as shown includes bothWireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT)functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In thisdisclosure, “WLAN” and “Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 604 a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 604 aand a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 604 b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 604 amay include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured tooperate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 601, toamplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions ofthe received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 606 a for furtherprocessing. The BT FEM circuitry 604 b may include a receive signal pathwhich may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signalsreceived from one or more antennas 601, to amplify the received signalsand to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BTradio IC circuitry 606 b for further processing. FEM circuitry 604 a mayalso include a transmit signal path which may include circuitryconfigured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry606 a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 601. Inaddition, FEM circuitry 604 b may also include a transmit signal pathwhich may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided bythe radio IC circuitry 606 b for wireless transmission by the one ormore antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, although FEM 604 a and FEM604 b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are notso limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown)that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BTsignals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least someof the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths forboth WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 606 a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry606 a and BT radio IC circuitry 606 b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 606 amay include a receive signal path which may include circuitry todown-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 604 a andprovide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608 a. BTradio IC circuitry 606 b may in turn include a receive signal path whichmay include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 604 b and provide baseband signals to BT basebandprocessing circuitry 608 b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 606 a may alsoinclude a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convertWLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry608 a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 604 a forsubsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 601. BTradio IC circuitry 606 b may also include a transmit signal path whichmay include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by theBT baseband processing circuitry 608 b and provide BT RF output signalsto the FEM circuitry 604 b for subsequent wireless transmission by theone or more antennas 601. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, although radio ICcircuitries 606 a and 606 b are shown as being distinct from oneanother, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scopethe use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmitsignal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals,or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some ofthe radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths forboth WLAN and BT signals.

Baseband processing circuity 608 a-b may include a WLAN basebandprocessing circuitry 608 a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 608 b.The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 608 a may include a memory, suchas, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform orInverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN basebandprocessing circuitry 608 a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 608 aand the BT baseband circuitry 608 b may further include one or moreprocessors and control logic to process the signals received from thecorresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry606 a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signalsfor the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 606 a-b. Each ofthe baseband processing circuitries 608 a and 608 b may further includephysical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry,and may further interface with a device for generation and processing ofthe baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio ICcircuitry 606 a-b.

Referring still to FIG. 6, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BTcoexistence circuitry 613 may include logic providing an interfacebetween the WLAN baseband circuitry 608 a and the BT baseband circuitry608 b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. Inaddition, a switch 603 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry604 a and the BT FEM circuitry 604 b to allow switching between the WLANand BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although theantennas 601 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLANFEM circuitry 604 a and the BT FEM circuitry 604 b, embodiments includewithin their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between theWLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected toeach of FEM 604 a or 604 b.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 604 a-b, the radioIC circuitry 606 a-b, and baseband processing circuitry 608 a-b may beprovided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 602. Insome other embodiments, the one or more antennas 601, the FEM circuitry604 a-b and the radio IC circuitry 606 a-b may be provided on a singleradio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 606 a-band the baseband processing circuitry 608 a-b may be provided on asingle chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 612.

In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 602 may include a WLANradio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some ofthese embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configuredto receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM)or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communicationsignals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMAsignals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105Bmay be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wirelessaccess point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fidevice. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B maybe configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance withspecific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standardsincluding, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016,802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay and/or 802.11axstandards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scopeof embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 105A,105B may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications inaccordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configuredfor high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with theIEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMAtechnique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in thisrespect.

In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may beconfigured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or moreother modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g.,direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequencyhopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-divisionmultiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing(FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limitedin this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 6, the BT basebandcircuitry 608 b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivitystandard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any otheriteration of the Bluetooth Standard.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include otherradio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular(e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 7G communications).

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B maybe configured for communication over various channel bandwidthsincluding bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz,8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In someembodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of theembodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencieshowever.

FIG. 7 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 604 a in accordance with someembodiments. Although the example of FIG. 7 is described in conjunctionwith the WLAN FEM circuitry 604 a, the example of FIG. 7 may bedescribed in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry 604 b (FIG.6), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 604 a may include a TX/RX switch702 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 604 a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 604 a may include alow-noise amplifier (LNA) 706 to amplify received RF signals 703 andprovide the amplified received RF signals 707 as an output (e.g., to theradio IC circuitry 606 a-b (FIG. 6)). The transmit signal path of thecircuitry 604 a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RFsignals 709 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 606 a-b), and oneor more filters 712, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters(LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 715 forsubsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 601 (FIG.6)) via an example duplexer 714.

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry604 a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequencyspectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, thereceive signal path of the FEM circuitry 604 a may include a receivesignal path duplexer 704 to separate the signals from each spectrum aswell as provide a separate LNA 706 for each spectrum as shown. In theseembodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 604 a mayalso include a power amplifier 710 and a filter 712, such as a BPF, anLPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmitsignal path duplexer 704 to provide the signals of one of the differentspectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by theone or more of the antennas 601 (FIG. 6). In some embodiments, BTcommunications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize thesame FEM circuitry 604 a as the one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 8 illustrates radio IC circuitry 606 a in accordance with someembodiments. The radio IC circuitry 606 a is one example of circuitrythat may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 606a/606 b (FIG. 6), although other circuitry configurations may also besuitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 8 may be described inconjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry 606 b.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 606 a may include a receivesignal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of theradio IC circuitry 606 a may include at least mixer circuitry 802, suchas, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry806 and filter circuitry 808. The transmit signal path of the radio ICcircuitry 606 a may include at least filter circuitry 812 and mixercircuitry 814, such as, for example, up-conversion mixer circuitry.Radio IC circuitry 606 a may also include synthesizer circuitry 804 forsynthesizing a frequency 805 for use by the mixer circuitry 802 and themixer circuitry 814. The mixer circuitry 802 and/or 814 may each,according to some embodiments, be configured to provide directconversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a muchsimpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixercircuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may bealleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 8illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and mayinclude, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depictedcircuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixercircuitry 814 may each include one or more mixers, and filtercircuitries 808 and/or 812 may each include one or more filters, such asone or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. Forexample, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, theymay each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 802 may be configured todown-convert RF signals 707 received from the FEM circuitry 604 a-b(FIG. 6) based on the synthesized frequency 805 provided by synthesizercircuitry 804. The amplifier circuitry 806 may be configured to amplifythe down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 808 may include anLPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-convertedsignals to generate output baseband signals 807. Output baseband signals807 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 608 a-b (FIG.6) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output basebandsignals 807 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is nota requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 802 may comprisepassive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 814 may be configured toup-convert input baseband signals 811 based on the synthesized frequency805 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 804 to generate RF outputsignals 709 for the FEM circuitry 604 a-b. The baseband signals 811 maybe provided by the baseband processing circuitry 608 a-b and may befiltered by filter circuitry 812. The filter circuitry 812 may includean LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedown-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help ofsynthesizer circuitry 804. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802and the mixer circuitry 814 may each include two or more mixers eachconfigured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixer circuitry 814 may bearranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion,respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 802 and the mixercircuitry 814 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, althoughthis is not a requirement.

Mixer circuitry 802 may comprise, according to one embodiment:quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadraturephase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 707 from FIG. 8may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to besent to the baseband processor.

Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degreetime-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitrywhich may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a localoscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 805 of synthesizercircuitry 804 (FIG. 8). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be thecarrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be afraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency,one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero andninety-degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by thesynthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect.

In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (thepercentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset(the difference between start points of the period). In someembodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80%offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g.,the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80%duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is powerconsumption.

The RF input signal 707 (FIG. 7) may comprise a balanced signal,although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-noiseamplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 806 (FIG. 8) or to filtercircuitry 808 (FIG. 8).

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 807 and the inputbaseband signals 811 may be analog baseband signals, although the scopeof the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals 807 and the input basebandsignals 811 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternateembodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for otherspectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments isnot limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 804 may be a fractional-Nsynthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequencysynthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 804 maybe a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizercomprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According tosome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 804 may include digitalsynthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizercircuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components,its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of ananalog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input intosynthesizer circuity 804 may be provided by a voltage controlledoscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider controlinput may further be provided by either the baseband processingcircuitry 608 a-b (FIG. 6) depending on the desired output frequency805. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on achannel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicatedby the example application processor 610. The application processor 610may include, or otherwise be connected to, one of the example securesignal converter 101 or the example received signal converter 103 (e.g.,depending on which device the example radio architecture is implementedin).

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 804 may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 805, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency 805 may be a fraction of the carrierfrequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrierfrequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 805 may be a LOfrequency (fLO).

FIG. 9 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processingcircuitry 608 a in accordance with some embodiments. The basebandprocessing circuitry 608 a is one example of circuitry that may besuitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 608 a (FIG. 6),although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.Alternatively, the example of FIG. 8 may be used to implement theexample BT baseband processing circuitry 608 b of FIG. 6.

The baseband processing circuitry 608 a may include a receive basebandprocessor (RX BBP) 902 for processing receive baseband signals 809provided by the radio IC circuitry 606 a-b (FIG. 6) and a transmitbaseband processor (TX BBP) 904 for generating transmit baseband signals811 for the radio IC circuitry 606 a-b. The baseband processingcircuitry 608 a may also include control logic 906 for coordinating theoperations of the baseband processing circuitry 608 a.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchangedbetween the baseband processing circuitry 608 a-b and the radio ICcircuitry 606 a-b), the baseband processing circuitry 608 a may includeADC 910 to convert analog baseband signals 909 received from the radioIC circuitry 606 a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by theRX BBP 902. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 608a may also include DAC 912 to convert digital baseband signals from theTX BBP 904 to analog baseband signals 911.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, suchas through baseband processor 608 a, the transmit baseband processor 904may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate fortransmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). Thereceive baseband processor 902 may be configured to process receivedOFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some embodiments,the receive baseband processor 902 may be configured to detect thepresence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing anautocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and byperforming a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preamblesmay be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to FIG. 6, in some embodiments, the antennas 601 (FIG. 6)may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas,including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patchantennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennassuitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectivelyseparated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the differentchannel characteristics that may result. Antennas 601 may each include aset of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.

Although the radio architecture 105A, 105B is illustrated as havingseveral separate functional elements, one or more of the functionalelements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on oneor more processing elements.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “userdevice,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobiledevice,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used hereinrefers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone,a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptopcomputer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, anaccess point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, orother personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may beeither mobile or stationary.

As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended toinclude transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving.This may be particularly useful in claims when describing theorganization of data that is being transmitted by one device andreceived by another, but only the functionality of one of those devicesis required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchangeof data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive duringthe exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only thefunctionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term“communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communicationsignal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/orreceiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wirelesscommunication unit, which is capable of communicating a wirelesscommunication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit thewireless communication signal to at least one other wirelesscommunication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receivethe wireless communication signal from at least one other wirelesscommunication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinaladjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a commonobject, merely indicates that different instances of like objects arebeing referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects sodescribed must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, inranking, or in any other manner.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. Anaccess point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station,an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known inthe art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, userequipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similarterminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generallypertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wirelessnetworks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, apersonal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, anon-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehiculardevice, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumerdevice, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communicationstation, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP),a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device,an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wirelessnetwork, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN),a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal areanetwork (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, apersonal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device whichincorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portableglobal positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates aGPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFIDelement or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver ordevice, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, amultiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a devicehaving one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digitalvideo broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devicesor systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, awireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems following one or morewireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF),infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM(OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access(TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS),extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA(WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA,multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth®,global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband(UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G,3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long termevolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various otherdevices, systems, and/or networks.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1 may include a device comprising processing circuitry coupledto storage, the processing circuitry configured to: detect a firststation device (STA), wherein the first STA operates as a legacy device;detect a second STA, wherein the second STA operates as an extremelyhigh throughput (EHT) device; exchange first capabilities with the firstSTA, wherein the first capabilities include support for legacy features;exchange second capabilities with the second STA, wherein the secondcapabilities include multi-link operation (MLO) support; dynamicallyde-correlate EHT capabilities from the second STA; and establish acommunication channel with the second STA based on an ED threshold thatmay be determined based on the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 2 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the processing circuitry may be further configured totrigger an update to change the capabilities of the second STA.

Example 3 may include the device of example 2 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the update may include a flag that may be set to 1 toindicate a de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 4 may include the device of example 3 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the flag indicates to the second STA to update itssecond capabilities.

Example 5 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the second STA may be prohibited from transmitting EHTphysical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) to the device due to thede-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 6 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the processing circuitry may be further configured totransmit one or more beacon frames or probe response frames that do notinclude EHT capabilities and EHT operation elements.

Example 7 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the processing circuitry may be further configured tore-enable EHT operation by including EHT capabilities and EHT operationelements in beacon frames or probe response frames.

Example 8 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit andreceive wireless signals.

Example 9 may include the device of example 8 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver.

Example 10 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions which when executed by one or moreprocessors result in performing operations comprising: detecting a firststation device (STA), wherein the first STA operates as a legacy device;detecting a second STA, wherein the second STA operates as an extremelyhigh throughput (EHT) device; exchanging first capabilities with thefirst STA, wherein the first capabilities include support for legacyfeatures; exchanging second capabilities with the second STA, whereinthe second capabilities include multi-link operation (MLO) support;dynamically de-correlating EHT capabilities from the second STA; andestablishing a communication channel with the second STA based on an EDthreshold that may be determined based on the de-correlation of the EHTcapabilities.

Example 11 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operationsfurther comprise trigger an update to change the capabilities of thesecond STA.

Example 12 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the update mayinclude a flag that may be set to 1 to indicate a de-correlation of theEHT capabilities.

Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 12 and/or some other example herein, wherein the flag indicatesto the second STA to update its second capabilities.

Example 14 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the second STA maybe prohibited from transmitting EHT physical layer protocol data units(PPDUs) to the device due to the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 15 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operationsfurther comprise transmitting one or more beacon frames or proberesponse frames that do not include EHT capabilities and EHT operationelements.

Example 16 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 10 and/or some other example herein, wherein the operationsfurther comprise re-enable EHT operation by including EHT capabilitiesand EHT operation elements in beacon frames or probe response frames.

Example 17 may include a method comprising: detecting, by one or moreprocessors, a first station device (STA), wherein the first STA operatesas a legacy device; detecting a second STA, wherein the second STAoperates as an extremely high throughput (EHT) device; exchanging firstcapabilities with the first STA, wherein the first capabilities includesupport for legacy features; exchanging second capabilities with thesecond STA, wherein the second capabilities include multi-link operation(MLO) support; dynamically de-correlating EHT capabilities from thesecond STA; and establishing a communication channel with the second STAbased on an ED threshold that may be determined based on thede-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 18 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising trigger an update to change thecapabilities of the second STA.

Example 19 may include the method of example 18 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the update may include a flag that may be set to1 to indicate a de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 20 may include the method of example 19 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the flag indicates to the second STA to updateits second capabilities.

Example 21 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the second STA may be prohibited fromtransmitting EHT physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) to thedevice due to the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 22 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising transmitting one or more beaconframes or probe response frames that do not include EHT capabilities andEHT operation elements.

Example 23 may include the method of example 17 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising re-enable EHT operation by includingEHT capabilities and EHT operation elements in beacon frames or proberesponse frames.

Example 24 may include an apparatus comprising means for: detecting afirst station device (STA), wherein the first STA operates as a legacydevice; detecting a second STA, wherein the second STA operates as anextremely high throughput (EHT) device; exchanging first capabilitieswith the first STA, wherein the first capabilities include support forlegacy features; exchanging second capabilities with the second STA,wherein the second capabilities include multi-link operation (MLO)support; dynamically de-correlating EHT capabilities from the secondSTA; and establishing a communication channel with the second STA basedon an ED threshold that may be determined based on the de-correlation ofthe EHT capabilities.

Example 25 may include the apparatus of example 24 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising trigger an update to change thecapabilities of the second STA.

Example 26 may include the apparatus of example 25 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the update may include a flag that may be set to1 to indicate a de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 27 may include the apparatus of example 26 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the flag indicates to the second STA to updateits second capabilities.

Example 28 may include the apparatus of example 24 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the second STA may be prohibited fromtransmitting EHT physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) to thedevice due to the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.

Example 29 may include the apparatus of example 24 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising transmitting one or more beaconframes or probe response frames that do not include EHT capabilities andEHT operation elements.

Example 30 may include the apparatus of example 24 and/or some otherexample herein, further comprising re-enable EHT operation by includingEHT capabilities and EHT operation elements in beacon frames or proberesponse frames.

Example 31 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-30, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 32 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-30, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 33 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-30, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 34 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-30, or portions thereof.

Example 35 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 36 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 37 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed inthe attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device anda computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claimcategory, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g.,system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attachedclaims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matterresulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (inparticular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that anycombination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can beclaimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims.The subject-matter which can be claimed comprises not only thecombinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also anyother combination of features in the claims, wherein each featurementioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature orcombination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of theembodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed ina separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment orfeature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of theattached claims.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations providesillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to various implementations. It willbe understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executableprogram instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams andflow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the orderpresented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, accordingto some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be storedin a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage media produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certainimplementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising acomputer-readable storage medium having a computer-readable program codeor program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readableprogram code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements orsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer-implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elementsor steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thespecific implementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, the device comprising processingcircuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:detect a first station device (STA), wherein the first STA operates as alegacy device; detect a second STA, wherein the second STA operates asan extremely high throughput (EHT) device; exchange first capabilitieswith the first STA, wherein the first capabilities include support forlegacy features; exchange second capabilities with the second STA,wherein the second capabilities include multi-link operation (MLO)support; de-correlate EHT capabilities from the second STA; andestablish a communication channel with the second STA based on an energydetection (ED) threshold that is determined based on the de-correlationof the EHT capabilities.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further configured to trigger an update tochange the capabilities of the second STA.
 3. The device of claim 2,wherein the update includes a flag that is set to 1 to indicate ade-correlation of the EHT capabilities.
 4. The device of claim 3,wherein the flag indicates to the second STA to update its secondcapabilities.
 5. The device of claim 1, wherein the second STA isprohibited from transmitting EHT physical layer protocol data units(PPDUs) to the device due to the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.6. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to transmit one or more beacon frames or probe responseframes that do not include EHT capabilities and EHT operation elements.7. The device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to re-enable EHT operation by including EHT capabilities andEHT operation elements in beacon frames or probe response frames.
 8. Thedevice of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured totransmit and receive wireless signals.
 9. The device of claim 8, furthercomprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions whichwhen executed by one or more processors result in performing operationscomprising: detecting a first station device (STA), wherein the firstSTA operates as a legacy device; detecting a second STA, wherein thesecond STA operates as an extremely high throughput (EHT) device;exchanging first capabilities with the first STA, wherein the firstcapabilities include support for legacy features; exchanging secondcapabilities with the second STA, wherein the second capabilitiesinclude multi-link operation (MLO) support; de-correlating EHTcapabilities from the second STA; and establishing a communicationchannel with the second STA based on an energy detection (ED) thresholdthat is determined based on the de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein theoperations further comprise trigger an update to change the capabilitiesof the second STA.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 11, wherein the update includes a flag that is set to 1 toindicate a de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the flagindicates to the second STA to update its second capabilities.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the secondSTA is prohibited from transmitting EHT physical layer protocol dataunits (PPDUs) to the device due to the de-correlation of the EHTcapabilities.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim10, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting one or morebeacon frames or probe response frames that do not include EHTcapabilities and EHT operation elements.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the operations furthercomprise re-enable EHT operation by including EHT capabilities and EHToperation elements in beacon frames or probe response frames.
 17. Amethod comprising: detecting, by one or more processors, a first stationdevice (STA), wherein the first STA operates as a legacy device;detecting a second STA, wherein the second STA operates as an extremelyhigh throughput (EHT) device; exchanging first capabilities with thefirst STA, wherein the first capabilities include support for legacyfeatures; exchanging second capabilities with the second STA, whereinthe second capabilities include multi-link operation (MLO) support;de-correlating EHT capabilities from the second STA; and establishing acommunication channel with the second STA based on an energy detection(ED) threshold that is determined based on the de-correlation of the EHTcapabilities.
 18. The method of claim 17, further comprising trigger anupdate to change the capabilities of the second STA.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the update includes a flag that is set to 1 toindicate a de-correlation of the EHT capabilities.
 20. The method ofclaim 19, wherein the flag indicates to the second STA to update itssecond capabilities.